The present invention relates to the prevention of damage to homes or buildings from water leakage. More particularly, the invention relates to the fail-safe detection and prevention of such damage by independent and iterative means.
The prior art provides a number of systems for the prevention of water damage to the interior of homes and buildings. None of the prior art, however, alone or in combination, provides for (a) drainage of a leaking water tank to the external environment in response to the detection of a water leak from the tank, and (b) iterative and independent means for the detection of the leak. These needs are met and these problems solved by the apparatus and method of the present invention.
If water contained in a leaking tank is not drained to the outside of the building or home, substantial water damage may result even if and when the leak has been stopped by shutting off the supply of water to the tank.
If only one unitary sensor is available for leak detection, the sensor may fail and the leak continue unabated. If only one sensor is available for one tank, and if a second tank springs a leak, the water damage from the second leaking tank could result in considerable water damage. The use of a single sensor for both tanks would not solve this problem, since each tank would require its own sensor in order not to have both tanks emptied in response to a leak from only one of the tanks.